Maxfield Parrish
Overview
 
Maxfield Parrish was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

 and illustrator
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...

 active in the first half of the twentieth century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, he was the son of painter and etcher Stephen Parrish
Stephen Parrish
Stephen Parrish was a painter and an etcher from the United States.-Biography:Parrish was engaged in mercantile pursuits until he was 30, when he applied himself to art, studying for a year with a local teacher. In 1878 he first exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy in Philadelphia, and in 1879 at...

. He began drawing for his own amusement as a child. His given name was Frederick Parrish but he later adopted the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, Maxfield, as his middle name, and later as his professional name.
Quotations

Thank you for allowing me to use colors as rich and deep as you please. I had always wanted to do so, yet was never allowed because of the color capabilities of our lithographers today. Now that I have done it, I don't think I'll ever go back.

Letter to Gertrude Whitney (8 April 1914)

I'm done with girls on rocks! I've painted them for thirteen years and I could paint them and sell them for thirteen more. That's the peril of the commercial art game. It tempts a man to repeat himself. it's an awful thing to get to be a rubber stamp. I'm quitting my rut now while I'm still able.

"Maxfield Parrish Will Discard 'Girl-on-Rock' Idea in Art" Associated Press (27 April 1931)

There is an implied warranty that a commissioned work should last a lifetime. There is to be no charge.

Turning down an offer of payment from Irénée du Pont|Irénée du Pont in 1954 for a second mural after one he had finished in 1933 began to deteriorate because of improperly dried paint; as quoted in "How Maxfield Parrish Fulfilled a Warranty" by Seth W. Mattingly in Valley News [Lebanon, NH] (10 February 1982), p.2.

I don't know what people find or like in me, I'm hopelessly commonplace! ... Current appreciation of my work is a bit "highbrow", I've always considered myself a popular artist.

"Bit of a Come-Back Puzzles Parrish" in The New York Times (3 June 1964)

 
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